Three vacant, undersized commercial buildings on Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach are on track for demolition to make way for a 17-unit housing project, with a city hearing officer expected to rule on the proposal in the coming weeks. The plan calls for tearing down the structures at 866 to 872 Grand Avenue, including a former residence that had been converted into a business, and replacing them with a three-story building that includes just a three-space carport on its bottom floor.
The site's commercial zoning, known as CC-4-2, allows mixed-use residential development by right, according to Scoutred and city municipal code records, which set a maximum base density of one dwelling unit per 1,500 square feet of lot area. As reported by Times of San Diego, the 11,231-square-foot project includes two affordable units and was submitted by Golba Architecture Inc. on behalf of the developer. Architect Tim Golba is listed as the designer, and the site sits along an existing transit corridor in a highly walkable stretch of the neighborhood, per the same account.
Real estate records show the 0.12-acre lot was originally built in 1960 as a three-building property, with a two-bedroom residence converted into commercial space alongside two rear commercial units. Those buildings and the adjacent former residence were intended for housing but will not return to that use once demolished, the Times of San Diego reports.
A Corridor Already in Transition
The 866-872 Grand Avenue proposal isn't happening in isolation. Less than a month before the project surfaced, the neighboring former IHOP site at Grand and Mission avenues sold for $8 million to 856 Grand Ave LLC, according to Times of San Diego, after the 22,000-square-foot commercial parcel sat vacant for roughly two years following IHOP's exit due to rising labor costs. That site is expected to become a mixed-use development, per the article, though no final plans have been announced for the former restaurant building.
Golba Architecture has also been tied to the IHOP site's upcoming plans, building on the firm's track record along the local coast, which includes 1011 Grand Avenue. Separately, local real estate disclosures in August indicated the 17-unit proposal is moving forward alongside another residential project planned at 1338 Grand Avenue, according to a video posted by Scott Booth Real Estate Group, suggesting a broader developer push along the avenue.
Why the Height Stays Low
Unlike some of Pacific Beach's more contentious housing fights, this project keeps to three stories, a limit rooted in San Diego's Proposition D. Approved by 64% of city voters in November 1972, the measure established a strict 30-foot building height limit across coastal zones west of Interstate 5, including Pacific Beach, according to city records cited by the San Diego Free Press.
That compliance appears to be winning over neighborhood leadership. Pacific Beach Planning Group Chair Marcella Bothwell supports multifamily infill projects that respect the coastal height limit and include on-site affordable units. Bothwell has also founded the grassroots coalition Neighbors for a Better California specifically to challenge high-rise projects that use state Density Bonus Law to exceed those coastal height caps, according to CBS News 8, including a proposed 22-to-23-story tower at 970 Turquoise Street that Hoodline covered in its Turquoise Tower showdown report.
California's Density Bonus Law lets developers offering affordable units request waivers on density restrictions and other development standards, though local planning groups have frequently contested how those density baselines get calculated in coastal areas, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The 866-872 Grand Avenue project's inclusion of two affordable units places it within that same regulatory framework, even as it avoids the height fights that have defined other local proposals.
Part of a Bigger Pacific Beach Build-Out
Pacific Beach is experiencing a wave of new housing projects under consideration, and this Grand Avenue proposal is just one piece of it. In January, the San Diego City Council approved zoning changes allowing an expansion of 138 residential units at the AVA Pacific Beach complex, bringing that property to roughly 702 total apartments, as Hoodline reported in its piece on the neighborhood's growing apartment hive.
The regulatory environment has also shifted citywide. In May, the San Diego City Council voted 7-0 to adopt a package of land-use updates loosening outdoor dining rules and accelerating permit approvals for compact housing developments, a move Hoodline covered in its report on the city's broader zoning shakeup. For now, the fate of the 866-872 Grand Avenue proposal rests with a city hearing officer, who is expected to issue a decision in the coming weeks.
